The Class Ceiling: Why it Pays to be Privileged

Friedman, Sam; Laurison, Daniel

ISBN 10: 1447336100 / ISBN 13: 9781447336105

Published by Policy Press, 2020

About this Item

Seller Inventory # GBV.1447336100.N

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Class Ceiling: Why it Pays to be Privileged
• Publisher: Policy Press
• Publication Date: 2020
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1447336100
• ISBN 13: 9781447336105
• Binding: Soft cover
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

Politicians continually tell us that anyone can get ahead. But is that really true? This important, best-selling book takes readers behind the closed doors of elite employers to reveal how class affects who gets to the top.

Friedman and Laurison show that a powerful 'class pay gap’ exists in Britain’s elite occupations. Even when those from working-class backgrounds make it into prestigious jobs, they earn, on average, 16% less than colleagues from privileged backgrounds. But why is this the case? Drawing on 175 interviews across four case studies – television, accountancy, architecture, and acting – they explore the complex barriers facing the upwardly mobile.

This is a rich, ambitious book that demands we take seriously not just the glass but also the class ceiling.

About the Authors

Sam Friedman is Professor in Sociology, London School of Economics and a Commissioner at the Social Mobility Commission. He has published widely on social class, social mobility and elites. He is the author of Comedy and Distinction: The Cultural Currency of a ‘Good’ Sense of Humour (Routledge 2014) and the co-author of Social Class in the 21st Century (Penguin, 2015). He tweets as @SamFriedmanSoc

Daniel Laurison is Assistant Professor at Swarthmore College, USA. Previously he was at the London School of Economics & Political Science. He is Associate Editor of the British Journal of Sociology and tweets as @Daniel_Laurison